Volgograd suicide bombers identified, suspected accomplices detained

Investigators work at the site of a blast on a trolleybus in Volgograd December 30, 2013. (Reuters) / Reuters

The two suicide bombers responsible for the attacks in Russia’s Volgograd in December have been identified, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said. Their alleged accomplices, suspected of aiding their travel to Volgograd, have been detained.

The two terrorist attacks took place in the space of just over 24
hours on December 29 and 30. The first one, a huge blast at the
Volgograd railway station on December 29, was followed by another
a day later inside a packed city bus. More than 30 lives were
claimed in the attacks, and dozens of people were injured.

“In the course of the investigation... our leads resulted in
the identification of two suicide bombers of the Buynaksk
terrorist group – Asker Samedov and Suleyman Magomedov,” a
committee official said in a statement.

However, those responsible for planning the terrorist attacks may
still be at large, the anti-terrorism committee said. A search is
underway.

Dagestan has been the scene of several recent anti-terrorist
operations, three of them on January 22, leading to the
elimination of a prominent militant leader allegedly responsible
for a series of bombings and attacks on the police, Eldar
Magatov.

A member of the so-called Babayurtovskaya gang, Magatov was
hiding out in rural Dagestan.

A total of three operations by Russia's security forces were
carried out in an attempt to apprehend the suspected terrorist.

Blasts, shootouts and other violence are a common occurrence in
the volatile republic as extremists face off against security
forces on an almost-daily basis.

Dagestan, as well as neighboring Chechnya and Ingushetia - which
at one point or another also harbored suspected militants from
Dagestan - have all lived in fear of terrorist attacks recently.